Nevada

Nevada is the Spanish word for "snowclad," a reference to its mountains.

Nevada was one of the first states to legalize gambling and is the only state to legalize prostitution (in select areas under a number of regulations). It was settled as a gold mining community, but revitalized as a resort state in the 1950s, where it has benefited from its proximity to California and later, the invention of air conditioning. It is one of the fastest growing states in the nation and has gone from being solidly Republican to being a potential swing state in Presidential elections.

Democrat Bill Clinton won the state in the 1992 and 1996 presidential elections and Republican George Bush won Nevada in 2000 and 2004. In 2004, George Bush narrowly won the state's 5 electoral votes by a margin of 2 percentage points with 50.5% of the vote. Las Vegas' Clark County, which contains the majority of the state's population, was the only county to vote Democratic.

Nevada's Yucca Mountain is the proposed repository of high level nuclear waste from all over the United States. A recent U.S. Energy Department report revealed that U.S. Geological Survey hydrologists working on Yucca Mountain had lied by fabricating "facts" and deleting inconvenient data. Source: Erica Werner. "Energy Dept. to Redo Yucca Work Deemed OK." Associated Press. February 17, 2006.

Nevada is also home to several military bases, including Nellis AFB, NAS Fallon and the (in)famous and entertaining Groom Lake or Area 51.